Bathing Optional

Hungary, Austria & Switzerland : early July, 2003

Continents

Continents

Previous Button

Patriots Square, at the long of Budapests long, main avenue.
Historic lake-side castle in Budapests Citizens Park.
Even the back streets are grand in Budapest.
Somewhere along the riverside.
In no rush.
Budapests fine Opera House.
Art nouveau.
Only next years models on Budapests streets.
Maciej with classic car and one of Budapests main cathedrals in the distance.
That same cathedral.
Inside that cathedral we found a fairly typical baroque interior.
Cathedral dome and chandelier.
View from the cathedral tower out over Budapests Pest section.
View over Pests grand buildings from cathedral tower.
Hungarian street fashion.
Ashe by riverside statue.
Budapests landmark Chain Bridge.
On the Chain Bridge at sunset with the Parliament Buildings beyond.
Budapests stunning Parliament Buildings on Pests riverbank.
View over Buda, the river, and to the Parliament Buildings in Pest from the hilltop castle on Budas hill.
Statue somewhere in Budas castle ruins.
Grand old church in Buda.
Another great statue in Budas castle grounds.
Closer to Budas fine church.
One of Budapests most famous bath houses, the Gellert Baths.
Ashe looking extra clean right out of the Baths.
Walking the riverside in the evening with view across to the Palace on Pests hilltop.
View of Budapests Chain Bridge and Palace beyond at night.
We saw this sight off of the train as it was speeding by a small town in Austria and decided to just hop off at that station. We were always in search of nice small towns to get off at at nightfall so that we could set up the tent for the night and this was the perfect spot for us.
Same monastery the next morning.
Approaching the monastery.
View over Vienna from its grand, central church, Stephansdom with its unique rooftop design.
Another view across Vienna.
One of the more famous churches in town, Karlskirche.
Not our mode of transportation while in Vienna, but we can dream.
Viennas Rathaus, or City Hall.
Plenty of fine architecture in Vienna.
Bridges.
City gardens.
Approaching the Hofburg Palace.
One of Viennas more famous contemporary designs.
Ambitious scultping.
Heldenplatz, the plaza in front of the Hofburg Palace.
Just one of dozens, hundreds even, of great statues throughout Vienna.
Another amazing statue.
Statue guarding the garden entrance to Schloss Belvedere, one of two grand palaces close to Viennas center.
Another lovely fountain statue in one of Viennas small squares.
And another one.
Very lifelike -- we could feel the agony.
Another pair of statues with a big burden.
Lots of these Mozarts running around the streets of Vienna trying to scalp Opera tickets.
Carriages.
Another kind of Mozart, performing in front of Viennas Stephansdom church.
Salzburg, called Austrias fairy-tale town. We didnt get that feeling but it probably had a lot to do with the overcast weather.
Church dome with Festung Hohensalzburg, Salzburgs medieval hilltop fortress, above.
Church dome.
View from Salzburgs cave grottos to tiny cemetery beside and church beyond.
For such a tiny town, it sure has a lot of churches.
The Mirabell Gardens on the grounds of the Palace of the same name. Apparently they were made famous by The Sound of Music but we didnt recognize them.
Statue in the Mirabell Gardens.
One of the more unique statues weve seen.
Cross in tiny church cemetery.
This character looked so much like those living tree characters in The Lord of the Rings that I had to take a photo.
Cliffside church.
Street performers in Salzburg plaza.
More contemporary street performers.
And the best street performer we saw in all of Europe. He played a recognizable song on the oboe while balancing all that on his nose... and that was just one of his many tricks.
Arriving in Hallstatt. We decided to spend the night in a more quiet spot so we took a train 2 hours south of Salzburg into central Austria where the Alps begin. There the train dropped us off at this tiny station and we waited for a water taxi to take us across the lake to the tiny town of Halstatt, our favorite stop in Austria.
Approaching Hallstatt by water taxi.
Halstatt. For us it was a little slice of heaven.
Another look across Halstatt, built right on the lakes shore with the mountains close behind.
Halstatts tiny main square.
All homes in Halstatt have this fantastic, rustic cottage look.
Halstatt homes.
Every home in Halstatt has a view.
Mountain side homes.
View from our campsite over Halstatt.
Welcome to Switzerland. View over Zurich from the tower of Grossmunster Cathedral.
View from the tower.
Famous contemporary stained glass in one of Zurichs churches.
Walking Zurichs back streets and heading towards the worlds largest clock face -- no wonder Switzerlands famous for watches.
Swans in Zurichs canal.
And whats a visit to Zurich without a stop at Lindt & Sprungli Chocolate HQ where we ate more free chocolate than wed care to admit.
Luzern, one of Switzerlands most visited lake-side towns. Here, the famous wooden bridge stands intact following many fires over the centuries.
Luzerns riverside.
As usual, we took the train out into the countryside in search of somewhere to pitch our tent. We got off at this station not too far south of Luzern; it looked perfect!
Tiny countryside church close to our camping spot for that night.
We camped right here along this rushing river.
View down street in Bern. It was incredible what a different feel Switzerlands capital had compared to Switzerlands other big cities. We loved Bern.
Another clocktower. Lots of clocks in Switzerland.
Horse cart making its way through Berns cobbled streets.
Berns main streets are lined with these pillared statues. It was great to follow them and try to guess at the story they tell.
Berns giant walk through clock.
Ashe filling up at one of many street fountains.
One huge cathedral for every city in Europe.
Things felt pretty rich wherever we went in Switzerland.
They may be cookie-cutter but they still look great. We loved Berns architecture.
View over Berns riverside homes.
An old chocolate factory? Mmmm.....
View over the river the literally winds its way around the heart of Bern.
We didnt hear the story, but somehow Berns history includes bears. For that reason, across the river there is a small bear pit in which a few cuddly brown bears laze around.
Maciej in the emergency room just following the stitching of his head which he cut on an open locker door in Berns train station.
Geneva. This fountain in Lake Genevas harbour is one of the worlds highest.
A farewell at Genevas docks.
Somewhere in downtown Geneva.
Our second visit to Geneva was a special one because we met my old friend Max and his girlfriend Celine there for the day. Here, Max, Ashe and Celine swim just off Lake Genevas shores.
Max, Celine, Ashe and Maciej. It was a great day even if Maxs face doesnt show it!
Marry me and save on taxes!
Budapest building facade.
That can only be Budapests state-of-the-art House of Terror museum which focuses on the countrys double reign of terror; first at the hands of the Nazis and then their Russian saviours.

View all picture thumbnails...

Move your mouse over a pin on the map and you will see some information here!